Has the global pandemic impacted how people feel about investing? Our new American Financial Experience Survey says yes, and in a big way.
Designed to gauge the attitudes and opinions of American consumers about all the various factors that affect their financial picture, our new quarterly survey series is to deliver information about investors and potential investors that financial advisors can use to optimize their service offerings in ways that appeal to clients and prospects alike.
In our first installment, which centers around the pandemic’s impact on attitudes toward investing, we discovered that despite the negative toll COVID-19 has had on jobs and the economy, nearly half of the people we surveyed are still intrigued enough about investing to want to learn more.
This is mostly true for current investors; the more they know, the more informed their investment decisions can be. But even among non-investors, there seems to be a desire for more information. While the majority of non-investors say it’s their financial situation that prevents them from investing, 46% report it’s also a matter of simply not knowing where to start. Only 19% include mistrust of the markets as a reason for not investing.
Advisors: this is why you should dedicate time to educating clients and prospects about opportunities in investing and the value you provide. People want to know more. They want to participate if they can. The first step is showing them how. Even non-investors who don’t think they have any investing power can improve their financial outlook by learning sound money management and goal setting. Maybe they have more investing power than they think.
The good news is a third of non-investors are willing to meet with an advisor to discuss their investment potential. The great news is even more investors--42% to be precise--are willing to meet with an advisor if they don’t already have one. These are people who already have investable assets. What they don’t have is a fiduciary looking out for them.
And those who do? Since the start of the pandemic, over a quarter of investors feel more positive about their advisor while virtually the same number of investors are also now questioning who they’re with. For advisors dealing with the latter, there’s only one way to answer a question, and that is to provide information, which brings us back to the investor’s desire to be educated.
Check out our ready-to-share client-facing webcasts and ready-to-use resources on our Fall Focus page. Our lineup offers a broad range of educational topics covering retirement planning, elections and the markets, and a quarterly market review, all designed to help advisors deepen client engagement, demonstrate value to leads and contacts, and grow their businesses.
Because the more you remind clients and prospects to reach out to you for guidance and education, the more they will.